Accurate PMD Measurements Using OSA and Polarization Scrambling

Here we report on novel method of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) measurements using the wavelength- scanning fixed-analyzer method (WSFA) with polarization scrambling at the input and output of a test fiber. Accurate equations relating the magnitude of the derivative of the transmitted spectrum through polarizer to the magnitude of the polarization dispersion vector are derived. These equations are used to simulate measurement setup and compare results with the reference Jones matrix eigenanalysis method. The accuracy of novel method is examined as a function of the number of averaging measurements using Monte Carlo simulations. The accuracy improves as square root of the number of measurements, thereby enabling accurate measurements of not only mean PMD but also DGD spectrum of a tested fiber, which was not possible using traditional extrema counting method.